Phoebe Stewart-Sinclair is a marine ecologist and economist. Her work broadly focuses on marine conservation and climate change adaptation and mitigation through conservation of marine organisms and environments. She has worked in research in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. Her qualifications include a Certificate in Tertiary Teaching, a BSc in Zoology and Ecology, an Honours in Zoology, a Masters in Conservation Biology, a PhD in Biology, and a PhD in Economics. At NIWA, she is a Scientist in the Marine Ecology team.
Estuaries under a changing climate - adaption and restorationopportunities for coastal wetlands
Future Coasts Aotearoa (FCA) is a five-year research programme that aims to inform how the lowland rural communities and environments of Aotearoa New Zealand can adapt and prosper despite unavoidable sea level rise (SLR) over the coming decades. FCA is exploring the environmental, social, economic, and physical changes that lie ahead and how we can most effectively respond. Biophysical models of inundation and salinisation and coastal wetland evolution, underpinned by measurements, can inform land-use change decisions sensitive to flooding and salinisation at a national scale. The insights flowing from this work will inform opportunities to restore coastal wetland ecosystems that have been degraded or largely lost due to reclamation and infrastructure development on estuarine margins. Recent spatial mapping of current coastal habitats and areas of opportunity for tidal restoration at a national scale will be important planning tools for regional councils, central government, and community restoration groups. Collated data on sequestration rates has been compiled for most coastal habitats and is ready for incorporation into a national blue carbon methodology or framework. However, there are some key policy challenges to developing a large scale coastal restoration programme in Aotearoa.
